The Conclusion to Your Blog

The Conclusion to Your Blog

To prepare for you final blog post, read over every blog you have posted over the course of the 2016-2017 school year.  Look back on your writing: what have you learned, what have you written, what is your blog all about and how have you evolved as a writer?

Write a comprehensive conclusion to your blog - consider your English blog as a body of work and reflect on the meaning and significance of it all. How do your blog posts reflect who you are as a student and as a writer? What have you learned this year and how have you grown since September? This should be a creative, complex, and encompassing post: the more you write and the more you reflect on, the better your grade will be. This blog will be assessed for quality and content rather than just completion. Consider a minimum of 400 words as a guideline for length. 

Also, include a quotation that supports your message as to the meaning and conclusion of your blog. This quotation can be from anywhere - a novel, a poem, a lyric from a song...anything that reflects the meaning of the body of work that is your blog. Be sure to embed your quotation in a way that clarifies its relevance to your message.

This blog post is meant to give a clear, reflective conclusion to the year-long blog assignment. The more reflecting you do on your posts, the higher your grade will be. If you have fewer posts than were required, go into more detail to compensate for your lack of assignments on which to reflect. Be sure to comment on how you have grown as a student and as a writer throughout this past school year. Feel free to include photos, videos, or other enhancements to wrap up the blog with a bang!

This post is worth 10 points in Evaluation and will be assessed for quality, content, complexity and thoughtfulness. Due Sunday, June 11. This assignment will not be graded if completed late. Any and all late blogs are all due no later than Sunday, June 11 to receive credit for this semester.

The Importance of Being Earnest

We've just finished reading Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest in class. Think about the topics from discussion and write two paragraphs about whichever topic you find most interesting.  Or, if you have a different idea, go ahead and write about your own idea. Within your two paragraphs, showcase your ability to make inferences about what you read and show your understanding of the play. Also, this play is a comedy - what did you find funny? How is reading comedy different from reading more serious literature? 

Due  Tuesday, June 13.

1.  The Importance of Being Earnest can be enjoyed simply as a silly comedy of manners.  However, at deeper inspection, it is obvious that Wilde satirizes many Victorian institutions and/or societal expectations.  Identify one of those major institutions and discuss Wilde’s serious message behind his trivial treatment.  How does Wilde invert well-known proverbs and use epigrams and aphorisms to comment on Victorian attitudes? What connections can you make to Great Expectations?

2.   Wilde suggests that his Victorian contemporaries should treat trivial matters with greater respect and pay less attention to what society then regarded as serious.  Discuss how Wilde expresses this philosophy with reference to one of the following: death, money, property, food or marriage

3. There are three major male/female relationships in The Importance of Being Earnest: Algernon/Cecily, Jack/Gwendolyn, and Prism/Chasuble.  Each relationship is stylized with its own particular type of dialogue.  In fact, the two members of each pair go together in part because they share a type of language.  Analyze the conversations of one of these couples, examining how they speak and what sorts of epigrams or social commentaries they make, What do you conclude?

4. Dishonesty is a theme that pervades The Importance of Being Earnest.  There are different levels on which this dishonesty is expressed throughout the play. Choose one type of dishonesty and discuss its significance to the theme.  Why is this an important theme to the play as a whole?

Looking Forward to the Ending

Woo hoo! If you've been keeping up with the reading, you should be more than 300 pages through Great Expectations. As we near the end of the novel, think about all of the mysteries that are yet to be solved. Which mystery are you most curious to see resolved? Even if someone (or Sparknotes) has spoiled the ending for you, seeing how Dickens unfolds the story can still be rewarding. What are you looking forward to as we near the ending of the book?

Write a paragraph about which mystery you're looking forward to being solved and why you find it interesting. What has Dickens done as an author (author's craft! Irony! Foreshadowing! Characterization! Symbolism! Suspense!) to make this mystery intriguing?

Due Monday, May 15.

Pause you who read this...

"Pause you who read this, and consider the long chain of iron or gold, of thorns or flowers, that would never have bound you, but for the formation of the first link on one memorable day."

After Pip's first day at Miss Havisham's house, his life is changed completely. We've talked a lot about fate and coincidence in class. Consider your life as a chain of your experiences - what was that first link for you? You could consider it your fate or merely a string of coincidences that brought you here to this moment in your life and made you the person you are today.

Whatever the circumstances, write about your "chain." What was the first link? What were some of the links to follow? Which parts of your chain are thorns or flowers? Iron or gold?

Write at least two paragraphs in response. Due Monday, May 1.

Great Expectations: Intro to Motif

Motif in Literature:

• Recurrent images, words, objects, phrases, or actions that tend to unify the story.
• Motifs highlight or enhance the theme or meaning of the story.

One of the elements of literature we discussed at the beginning of the year is motif. In the long and complicated novel that is Great Expectations, identifying motifs early on can really help you carry the thread of the story. As we discussed in class, several motifs are introduced in the very first few chapters of the novel. Choose one that you find interesting and discuss its introduction. Identify the motif and then briefly paraphrase or quote TWO places within the first 6 (or so) chapters of the novel where the motif is referenced. How does the motif seem to be enhancing the theme or meaning of the story? What does it do to develop plot or character?

Write two paragraphs for this post. The first paragraph should identify the motif and explain why you chose to write about it - what about this motif interests you? How is it introduced? Make sure you write a few sentences about why you find it interesting.

The second paragraph should give two examples (paraphrased or quoted) of when the motif appears and then discuss how the motif is enhancing theme, meaning, and/ or developing plot or character.

Due Monday, April 24.

Romeo and Juliet: What's It All About?

While we've been studying Romeo and Juliet in class these past few weeks we've been discussing significant lines from each scene, then watching and listening for them in the film versions of the play. We've also been working on writing claims about the play and supporting claims with evidence and explanation. Considering all we've been discussing in class, what would you say is Shakespeare's message about life and human nature?

Romeo and Juliet is a story about teenagers. The teenagers in the play have to make decisions independent of their parents, choose whose advice to follow and navigate the consequences of their actions. What do you think Shakespeare is trying to say about life, the way people behave and the impact they have on others? Write a paragraph discussing what you think Shakespeare might be saying about life and human nature through the characters and their words and their actions in the play.

Also, what do you notice about how these messages about life are conveyed to the audience? How does Shakespeare use language (such as metaphor, simile, personification, symbolism and reversals) and other literary devices to influence the audience? Write your second paragraph about Shakespeare's language and use of literary devices - this is author's craft.

Due Monday, March 20.

First Impressions of Romeo and Juliet

You made it through a full week of reading Romeo and Juliet out loud in class! Take a moment to reflect on your experiences in class this week.
How is it going?
How much are you able to understand as we read aloud?
Are you using the notes on the left side pages and if so, is it helping?

Also, what do you think of the play so far?
What are you overall first impressions of the characters?
What are you enjoying about it and what questions do you have?

Write two paragraphs for this post. For the first paragraph, write about how reading the play aloud is going for you. For the second paragraph, remark on what you think of the play and the characters overall.

Due Monday, March 6.